Python resources

python.md

Many Python Things

Some resources I've collected over a few years of working mostly in Python.

General

• Python Cheatsheet: A guide to Python syntax and grammar.
• Awesome Python: A comprehensive and curated list of Python resources.
• Calm Code: A series of video shorts on useful Python libraries for data management and software best practices.
• ArjanCodes: A YouTuber who produces super high-quality educational videos focused on software engineering.

For Data, Science

• numpy: A must-know library for working with data in Python. Check out this awesome guide for more info.
• xarray: A great library for working with the netCDF files or multidimensional labelled data.
• pandas: Working with tabular data? Use pandas.
• scipy: A library that provides performant implementations of many mathematical operations. Built on top of numpy.
• matplotlib: The most popular Python library for creating scientific plots.
  • named colors
  • customizing colorbars
  • comprehensive guide
• sympy: Solve mathematical equations symbolically.
• act-atmos: Toolkit for the atmospheric sciences, developed by colleagues at ARM. Great when paired with xarray.
• plotly dash: Leading python framework for creating data dashboards.
• streamlit: A fantastic alternative to plotly that gives you results fast.

For Web Development

• FastAPI: A modern, high-performance web framework for building APIs using standard Python type hints.
• Django: A very popular and fully-featured framework for full-stack web development.
• flask: A lightweight framework for microservices and API development. Less features than django, but far easier to use.

Fancy Utilities

• datetime: Easily handle logic related to dates, times, or timezones. Also see this table for datetime string conversions.
• pathlib: Stop using os; use pathlib instead.
• logging: Use the logging standard library to easily configure different logging verbosities for your scripts.
• tqdm: Want to add a progress bar to your code? tqdm makes this easy.
• rich: Add colors, tables, and more to your console output to take your logging to the next level.
• typer: Want to make a command-line interface for your script? Easy.
• pydantic: create and validate data structures using intuitive type-hinting.
• cookiecutter: Automate the boilerplate with cookiecutter.

Development Environments

• VS Code: My favorite code editor for Python, TypeScript, and more. See my VS Code folder for settings I use.
• PyCharm: My second favorite code editor for Python. Better IntelliSense, but trickier to use.
• conda: Manage Python environments with ease. See this tutorial to get started.
• virtualenv: A simpler alternative to conda that is better than venv or pyenv.

Best Practices

• GitHub: Use git and GitHub to track changes to your code and share it with others.
• Dependencies: Use a requirements.txt file to track your project's dependencies.
• ruff: The fastest linter for python available. Also formats your code according to the standard black code style, making your code more readable for your future self.
• mypy: Use mypy to statically type-check your code to catch potentially buggy behavior before it becomes an actual problem.
• pytest: Ensure your code is well-tested with pytest.
• pyinstrument: Profile your code to identify bottlenecks.
• PEP 20: Follow the Zen of Python when writing code. (Run import this to read it at any time)

Advanced

• Decorators: Decorators allow you to augment the behavior of your functions by wrapping them with other functions.
• Dev Mode: Run Python in development mode to see more verbose warnings and identify other potential issues.
• __dunder_methods__: Enhance your Python classes by defining dunder (double-underscore) methods.
• __slots__: Make your objects faster and smaller with appropriate use of __slots__.
• dask: Write parallelized code for distributed environments with dask.
• numba: Speed up your Python and numpy code using "Just in Time" compilation with numba.
• prefect: Easily script workflows by defining Tasks and Flows as code and use prefect to orchestrate the rest.